Schatten woke up expecting the day to be like any other. Like any of the thousands of others she'd had before. Her life was not exciting by any stretch of the word. Entertaining, and a life she was happy with, but not exciting. Perhaps some fierce beast or another Ruban looking for a fight wandered into her territory now and again, but these intrusions were far from frequent enough to call her life exciting. Even her travels around the five Sectors of her homeworld, Rubara, couldn't be called exciting. They weren't dull, but they were generally quiet and uneventful. Maybe sometimes she got into a squabble with another Necromancer, and maybe sometimes she had to kill a nasty creature before she could harvest parts from it, but Schatten would only have called her life exciting if those were things that happened to her everyday.

At it was, her life was just her life, and she liked it as it was. She had her den, a myriad of tunnels and warrens carved into a cliff that overlooked the shoreline of Sector 3's freshwater ocean, and she had her company in the form of her undead servants and companions. Above all, she had her work, her necromancy. Perhaps in some worlds and in some minds necromancy was a dark aberration of magic, but to Schatten it was an art she used to try and understand the cycle of death and rebirth. She treated her creations with respect, and yes, even with love. They were, after all, her family.

There had once been a time where she'd had someone more than the undead for company, but his stay had been but a flash compared to the time that he had been gone. He had not been her only apprentice, but he had been the first, and though her memory of him had faded over the hundreds of years since he'd gone, it still surfaced in her mind now and again, usually when she was working with the bodies of the little creatures called NiKara. She'd given him one of hers, to be his pet and companion and later, when he had decided to leave, something to remember her by.

But today was not a day of remembering. Today was just, as it has been said, a day like any other. That is, until Skippy--a flesh golem made of everything from the bones of a young Ruban to the feathers of a demonic creature called a Virce--started barking his skeletal head off. Though when Schatten had left him, he had been lounging on the ledge of rock that doubled as her porch, his shrill yapping echoed all the way through her tunnels to the rear den where Schatten was assembling yet another creation.

She lifted her head from her work, cocking an ear at the tone in her pet's voice. That bark was his happy bark, rather than his bark that warned of a strange intruder. Someone had approached her den and it was someone Skippy recognized. Odd. She wasn't expecting company. There were very few other Rubans who knew where she lived, and even fewer that would have a reason to visit.

Then, all of a sudden, Skippy's barking tapered off. Even odder.

With a sigh, Schatten put down her tools and turned away from her current project, slipping through the tunnels of her home. They were a little cramped now, but that was all right. There was only so much enlarging she could do to them without completely destroying their structural stability and bringing the whole cavern down on her head. She supposed she hadn't realized just how much growing she had left to do when she'd first moved into them as an adolescent.

She paused inside her front entryway once she'd finally reached it, sniffing at the air but scenting nothing. Except, perhaps, the smell of well preserved undead, but that was a scent so familiar to Schatten that it was as nothing to her. Skippy stood at his post, silent but wagging his spiky tail in a doglike manner, even though he looked nothing like one. Schatten gave the undead golem a curious look as she stepped out onto the stone ledge, herself, and squinted out at the eternal twilight that marked Sector 3's sky. Then she scanned the shoreline and the dune brush with her eyes.

The other Ruban was upon her in an instant, its massive wings suddenly blotting out the muted sky as it leapt from wherever it had been hiding. Red eyes glowed brightly and dire fangs gleamed threateningly as the other rolled her over and off her porch, buffeting her about with its wings, tail, and paws that for some reason kept their claws sheathed.

Schatten reacted instinctively, without fear. She was no stranger to battle. She snarled, teeth bared, and tried to fend off the stunning blows, but the other Ruban was a male--smaller, perhaps an adolescent, but heavier than she was. She also detected more than one pair of wings trying to strike at her--so he was one of the accursed Demonic Rubans, then, or one's crossbreed get. Not exactly the kind of Ruban she'd usually choose to pick a fight with.

She started to summon one of the most fearsome of her undead minions to come to her aid, when suddenly the male had her pinned to the ground, on her back, and she expected the worst.

But aside from sitting on her, he did nothing. Except...grin.

"Miss me?" he asked.

Schatten blinked, her summoning spell interrupted by surprise. She could only stare in incomprehension. Miss...who? A black, part-Demonic, scarred-up, neon green-maned....

Suddenly the memory, over a millennium and a half old, came rushing back, striking her almost like a heavy blow. Her jaw fell open in amazement as she stared up at the monster of a male her little apprentice had become.

Words escaped her. Or all but two of them, anyhow.

"Holy shit!"

N-13's grin got even wider and he moved his head about, apparently examining her face from all angles.

"Hmmm. No silver hairs yet," he observed. "I thought you'd have gone all silver by now."

Schatten's ears flicked up and she huffed indignantly, but before she could form a response, a tiny purple body suddenly appeared between N-13's legs and her chest, trilling excitedly as it jumped up and down and buzzed its dragonfly wings. Schatten laughed at the NiKara she had named Wraith, as the undead creature hopped so rapidly that one of its legs fell off and sent the animal toppling.

N-13 resealed the leg with a muttered spell and finally slid off of Schatten and into a stretch, as Wraith wove itself into her headfur, apparently with the intent to stay there for quite a while.

With her grown apprentice no longer pretending he was a paperweight and she a stack of paper, Schatten rolled back to her own feet as well, shaking sand off of her inky black pelt.

"So you managed to survive without me after all, eh?" she smirked, eyeing him appraisingly from behind the spiky veil of her hair. When she'd first found him, while exploring another Sector in search of bones, he had been just a pup, and a runt compared to her. Now, though he was still shorter by at least even feet, he had filled out and packed on muscle. He looked...pretty damn good, actually.

"I survived without you before you met me," he countered, though his tone was friendly rather than insulting. Schatten didn't contradict him. Sure, he'd survived. But when she sent her memories back to the night she'd found him, alone and wild-eyed with Demonic madness, "surviving" was only the nicest word one could have applied to his situation.

She said nothing, though, and only chuckled as N-13 sat down and slid a bulging backpack off his shoulders. "I've been to every Sector and gotten the best parts I could for us," he announced cheerfully.

"Gone for more than a millennium without even a letter," Schatten drawled, grinning, "and all you were doing was shopping?" But she sat down as well, curling her tail around her feet. Skippy finally bounded over from his perch as well, apparently shaking off whatever thrall or command N-13 had used to silence the golem. "Alright, let's see what you got."

"I wanted to get the best parts," he replied, nipping off the strings to the clasp while Skippy sniffed eagerly around his feet.

N-13 upended the pack and a veritable treasure-trove fell out of it: skulls of the rare creatures called wood sprites, complete with fur and the single jelly-like eye; whole bodies of the rodent-faced lizards called liru; split-ended tails from the magical catlike equines called keerak; and some carcasses and pieces that were unidentifiable at first glance but still looked to be in excellent condition.

The final item in his pack took a lot of tugging on N-13's part to free it, and when it cleared the satchel, Schatten gawked at it in open amazement. Somehow, her old apprentice had gotten his paws on the whole, dehydrated head of a Demonic Ruban. Its neck-bones were still bloodstained.

Schatten couldn't resist. She shuffled over and picked up the skull, turning it over in her paws, admiring the perfect condition of the forehead gem and cheek horns. Even the eyes, tongue, and nose membranes had been preserved.

"By Ethrraka, you're amazing," she murmured to N-13 as she checked the skull's teeth, then started picking up the other items one at a time to closely examine them in turn.

"Learned from the best," N-13 replied with a wide grin, and pointed at the Demonic's head. "That one didn't like me being on his 'home turf' out in Sector 5. He got me into a bad fight and I managed to roll a rock down a cliff at him. Split his head straight off when he was flying up at me."

Schatten gaped at her now-adolescent friend in amazement. Taking down a Demonic was an amazing feat, even if he had the advantage of being part Demonic himself. Schatten had had her own share of fights in her time, but if she'd ever caught wind of a Demonic, she would have made herself scarce. The Demonics were the absolute worst of all the Ruban breeds, and their name was no exaggeration.

She was distracted from her amazement when Wraith suddenly went crazy, chattering madly. "Ow!" she yelped, as the little NiKara yanked painfully on her hair.

N-13 came to her aid, picking the little creature out by its scruff and letting it go. "What's wrong?" he asked it.

Wraith did a mad dive-bomb at their heads, then dove into N-13's neon mane and pointed with its tail at the sea behind Schatten. At the same time, Skippy seemed to pick up on the same thing that had frightened Wraith, for the golem started barking madly, showing all of its razor-sharp teeth and rattling its back-spines.

Schatten turned around and received a shock. There were at least ten shapes rising out of the depths of the water, and the reek of rotting, waterlogged flesh attacked her nose almost immediately, making the Shadow gag. Though you couldn't get by being an undead-crafting Necromancer without at least a little smell, Schatten did what she could to minimize the distasteful odors. These things had had no such preservation!

A trio of still-living Rubans lifted their heads as well, water cascading from their sides. A badly scarred Water Ruban was the central figure, flanked by a pair of Rubans that must have been Water hybrids of some kind. One was neon green, which had to mean part Field, but the other was dark red and unidentifiable. All three were male. Schatten had never seen them before.

Schatten was immediately on her feet again, turning to face the Rubans and their undead horde, and falling back beside N-13.

"We'll be taking those," said the pureblood Water, his voice hollow and rasping. "So kind of you to do the traveling for us. We never did like Sector 5, did we, boys?"

The Field mix shook his head rapidly, tongue lolling stupidly out of his mouth and eyes rolling in their sockets. "Never did, never did, nopenopenopes."

Schatten bared her teeth, mantling her wings and dropping her head. "Fuck off, you vultures," she growled. If their pack of undead had been meant to intimidate and frighten her, it had failed miserably. She was not without her own minions lurking about, just waiting for her whistle.

False sorrow covered the Water's face. "Aw, listen to that.... The nice old lady called us bad names." Then suddenly, a look that was nothing short of murderous flashed in his eyes. "Get them."

The red and green hybrids lunged forward at the same time that the pureblood began to murmur magical commands. The stench that Schatten connected with poorly cared for dead suddenly became sharp and magical, and she abruptly realized that the decay of before had only been a front. These dead were fortified and ready to kill!

Skippy ran off, yelping in terror, and vanished into Schatten's den.

Schatten looked quickly about, trying to count numbers and keep track of everything at once, when she suddenly realized something that made her stomach to an unpleasant lurch. Every one of the undead beasts had something on it that was undeniably Demonic! This was no mere 'vulture' Necromancer--this was a skilled opponent!

Startled by this revelation, Schatten didn't realize she was the target of an offensive spell until it was too late--or would have been, had N-13 not thrown himself in the way of the Ice Lance the Water had cast at her. There was no time to thank him, though, for now the green hybrid had reached her.

The tiny mutt might have been stupid and small, but he was vicious and apparently fearless. He didn't scare Schatten, however. She did what she could to dance out of the way of his snaps and claw-swipes, returning blows where she could. It was undoubtedly foolish to be fighting over something like a bag of undead parts, but Schatten was brash and bold. She would not step down once challenged, especially not on her own doorstep!

She managed to strike the hybrid with a powerful cuff to the head, stunning him long enough for Schatten to release a shrill, ear-piercing whistle in a pattern of notes.

The response was practically immediate. The Water Ruban was not the only Necromancer around with his own army!

A swarm of NiKara of all shapes and colors and elemental alignments--Wraith's kin--burst from the mouth of Schatten's den and rocketed towards the enemy Rubans and their undead backup. The tiny creatures lashed out en mass with their magical spells. But they were only a distraction until the real cavalry could arrive....

Schatten focused back on the hybrid, flaring her wings and releasing a mighty roar--a roar charged with the dark, inherent negative energy of a Shadow Ruban.

The effect was immediate. The tiny hybrid's eyes went wide and then he was rolling around on the ground, abasing himself in magically-induced terror. Schatten took only a moment to listen to his grovelings of inferiority and then spun in search of a new target.

Her NiKara swarm was accomplishing little--or at least it appeared that way. One of the Water's undead was blasting the poor little creatures out of the sky with a series of fireballs, and any that happened to get close to the mastermind himself were easily blocked with the simplest of shield spells.

"Gnats," he spat. "Have you nothing else besides flies and a rabid dog?"

That last was directed at N-13, who was fearlessly throwing himself at the undead that lunged at him with wickedly sharp claws. Only five words could be heard above the din, and they were most certainly his as chunks of undead began to fly everywhere: "These things taste like shit!"

Schatten barely heard him. Instead she flung the Water Necromancer a smile that was mockingly winsome in return for his jibe.

The cavalry arrived, roars of challenge and fury issuing from eight throats of various form, as Schatten's best creatures leapt down from the top of the cliff high above the battle. They soared down on wings of all fleshcrafted kinds, casting spells if they had once known them or dive-bombing into the fray if they didn't. Schatten's triumphs of fleshcrafting included a scaly Rain Ruban; a pair of the massive, spiky, bear-like creatures called Spak; and a trio of the small but incredibly vicious creatures called Virce. None of them was wholly the species it had been born as. Ruban wings had been grafted to the Spak, the Rain Ruban had been merged with varied Mazdiv aspects, the Virce also had Ruban aspects, and more.

It was a smaller army than the Water's, but a more varied one. The battle would prove which was superior.

Schatten then turned towards the Water's other living ally, the red hybrid that N-13 was currently grappling with. With quickly spoken words, she wove her Sleep spell at the hybrid. Its effect was understandably lessened in battle, but it was her hope that even a moment of drowsiness in the hybrid would allow N-13 to gain an advantage, and perhaps go for the vulnerable throat or belly.

But Schatten's spell ended up doing far better than she'd predicted it would. The red hybrid collapsed bonelessly, right onto N-13, so deeply asleep he was already drooling. N-13 writhed in disgust, trying to free himself and avoid the string of spit at the same time.

Schatten's army was winning. Variety, and a battle-crazed half-Demonic, had won out. Suddenly she realized the Water's army of ten was already down to two, while his lackeys were either knocked out or gibbering uselessly.

But something strange was happening beyond them all, out in the freshwater ocean. The water had begun to swirl rapidly and was gaining speed with every moment, a whirlpool gone mad. But no whirlpool Schatten had ever known sucked at the air around it as well! It had become something like a black hole, and Schatten could feel the incredible force it was exerting pulling at her even where she stood--and strongly!

Her hair fluttered wildly about her face, half-blinding her as she skidded through the sand and brush towards the ocean. She was vaguely aware of the Water vanishing with the shout of a teleportation spell--a spell she sadly lacked, herself!--and of N-13 sliding along the ground as well, his massive claws digging useless furrows in the sand.

Then, like a cork finally being yanked free of a bottle, the whirlpool at least seized hold of Schatten and pulled her through the air. With a screech that was most uncharacteristic of her, Schatten grabbed wildly at her surroundings, desperate for a handhold of any kind.

She saw Skippy running towards her, howling frantically to see his mistress in peril. The golem leapt at her, as if he thought to catch her himself, and it was all Schatten could do to grab her little pet and hug him to her chest before the vortex sucked them both in.